Building a tight house is the goal for most of us. What that means is that the unintended openings, gaps, and holes in the home’s exterior shell and in the duct system should be sealed, to keep outside air from leaking in, and to keep inside air from leaking out. A tight house will be more comfortable and have increased energy efficiency and lower utility bills. That’s because conditioned air produced by your HVAC system is less likely to escape and unconditioned outside air is less likely to sneak in through unwanted gaps. A tight house is also quieter, cleaner, and has better indoor air quality because outside noise, pests and pollutants have fewer opportunities to enter the home.
But if you’ve listened to past episodes, you know that if we build tight, we should also ventilate right. You’ll hear old school contractors say that building a tight house is not a good idea because they argue that a house should breathe. Modern building science has proven that old school contractors are wrong to avoid a tight building envelope. But, that old adage that a house should breathe is actually right. However, instead of house breathing through the uncontrolled air infiltration of a leaky house, we want a house with a tight building envelope that breathes through controlled ventilation.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
